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Merab Dvalishvili risks breaking relationship with Dana White again following featherweight admission

Originally posted on Bloody Elbow | By Jamie Theodosi | Last updated Nov 4, 2025 9:35 AM ET

Over the last few years, Merab Dvalishvili has done a good job of repairing his relationship with Dana White, which was once strained.

When Merab Dvalishvili was rising up the UFC bantamweight division, it was clear he was not one of Dana White‘s favorite fighters.

Because of his extremely eccentric personality, ‘The Machine’ has done several things over the years that have publicly annoyed the UFC boss, from jumping head first into an iced over lake, to removing his own stitches with ‘garden shears’.

Despite that, since winning the bantamweight title last year and going on to defend it three times already, it seemed as though their relationship dramatically improved.

Merab risks breaking relationship with White as he talks potential featherweight move

Their relationship has improved so much over the years that White even granted Merab’s wish and is allowing him to headline UFC 323 in December, which gives the Georgian the opportunity to make UFC history with the most title defenses in a calendar year.

And with Dvalishvili heading towards potential GOAT status, fans have been wondering if he will ever move up to the featherweight division in an attempt to become a double champion in the UFC, challenging Alexander Volkanovski.

However, the 34-year-old’s recent comments regarding a potential move up could potentially once again put a strain on his relationship with White.

“Right now, I’m good where I’m at,” Dvalishvili told Believe You Me Podcast.

“Number one, I have so much respect and love for Alexander Volkanovski and I could never challenge him, he’s great as a person and as a fighter, as a father. Second, I have a tough opponent in Petr Yan and after, I’m sure the UFC will have some opponents for me.

“I want to focus on my weight class and if the UFC asks me or if I really don’t have a really tough opponent in my weight class and I beat everyone, then maybe I’ll go up (to featherweight), but I still don’t want to fight Alexander Volkanovski.”

White hated how Dvalishvili wouldn’t fight teammate for years

One of the main reasons why White hasn’t been fond of the Georgian over the years is because of his refusal to fight his teammate, Aljamain Sterling.

When Sterling was reigning as the bantamweight champion, Dvalishvili was the deserved number one contender, but because they are long time teammates, they would not fight each other, which frustrated White.

And even though the UFC boss is also not very fond of fighters moving up and down weight classes, especially when they’re champions, he may once again be left frustrated if Merab refuses to fight a champion.

This article first appeared on Bloody Elbow and was syndicated with permission.

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